Pell Grants

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I wish to thank my colleague from Rhode Island for organizing this colloquy, and the Senator from Montana has been a tireless advocate of opportunity for all the people of the United States and particularly his State. So I am honored to follow my colleague from Montana in this discussion.

Claiborne Pell, whose name is on the grant, is an example of how an individual can make a difference in this institution. His contributions have left a legacy not only for himself and the State of Rhode Island but also for the entire country in advancing the cause of higher education and putting it on the map in the American understanding of how critically important it is and how it is evermore important today for the United States to compete in the global economy. It is important for individuals to compete within the United States. It is important for middle-class people to continue to have viable, healthy families. In fact, the Pell grant is important to the economic health and even the viability of our middle class. The failure to fund it and support it will endanger educational opportunities for middle-class Americans across the country.

What we know about the modern economy is that more and more, a high school education alone means less and less. High school is vitally important but, economically, it is not enough. That is reflected in an overwhelming--almost an avalanche--of statistics and studies. The most recent issue last Friday by Georgetown University Center on Education shows clearly and dramatically that Americans who have only a high school education are less likely to have a good income and a good economic status.

Workers who had a high school diploma alone, in 1973, were qualified for 72 percent of jobs--much more than two-thirds. Today, people who have only a high school diploma are qualified for only 44 percent of the jobs available. In 2018, that number will drop to 37 percent. That set of numbers is more than just a statistic, it is human lives and families and income--dollars in people's pockets they can spend in our economy. It affects particularly women who more and more shoulder the largest burden of changes in our educational requirements and have been hit the hardest in the unemployment crisis we face. In our advancing economy, employers need highly skilled individuals. More and more, what I hear as I go around the State of Connecticut is there are jobs available, but there aren't people with the skills to fill them. When we talk about a Pell grant and college degrees, we are not talking about only a 4-year diploma, we are talking about an associate's degree that enables somebody to run a computer on an assembly line or do welding or the other kinds of practical skills that enable people to fill those jobs, enable America to compete, and enable employers to compete successfully.

In 2018, only one-third of the jobs available to noncollege-educated workers will provide a living wage. That is a statistic that ought to be a wake-up call to the Congress and to Washington. I think it is reflected not just in the overall picture but in the individual human stories that both my colleagues expressed in their remarks and that I hear from people who not only have benefitted from Pell grants but who hope to benefit from them, including educators who believe they are vital to the future of American education.

I wish to cite a few this morning and quote first from a letter I received from Norma Esquivel, who lives in Greenwich, CT, and who said to me in her letter:

I recently received news regarding the possible elimination of the Pell Grant. As a recipient of the Pell Grant, the mere thought of losing such an essential feature of my financial aid package is devastating. ..... I was brought up in a Latino household where the lack of money was often a catalyst for stress and hopelessness. Neither of my parents could afford to attend college. My father worked as a janitor and is currently retired due to his debilitating Parkinson's disease while my mother is a housewife.

She goes on to talk about how her parents gave her the hope and aspiration to attend college and how she is now doing it at Sarah Lawrence because of the Pell grant.

Gena Glickman, who is the president of Manchester Community College, writes to me about the students whom she meets and she sees every day who benefit from these programs. She says:

Pell grants not only help low-income and first-generation students to access postsecondary education and training, they enable them to complete degrees and certificates.

Senator Whitehouse has given us this statistic that is astonishing and alarming: $1 trillion of debt that our students now bear--larger than the amount Americans owe on their credit cards, I believe, and threatening not only their futures but all of our economic futures and the viability of our economy.

I would like to ask my colleague from Rhode Island whether and how much funding is projected to be necessary for the continued viability of this program and for America and Americans to compete in the global economy?

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I agree wholeheartedly with everything the Senator has just said so eloquently about the importance and the partnership of the Pell grants, and I would like to again ask a question to my colleague from Rhode Island, whom I thank, by the way, for organizing this colloquy. His leadership on this issue has been so instrumental, carrying on the great legacy and tradition of Senator Pell.

Isn't it a fact, I ask Senator Whitehouse, that throughout its history, the Pell Grant Program has enjoyed strong bipartisan support; there has been nothing partisan or Republican or Democratic about advancing American higher education in this way?

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